Press Release Teaser: Innovative Open Ended Role Playing Game Available Soon!

Announcing Total Eclipse, The Smart Phone PnP RPG Experience!
Innovative Open Ended Role Playing Game Available Soon!

Cary, NC, 13 September 2011

Shrapnel Games is pleased to announce the upcoming release of the Total Eclipse tabletop role-playing game system. Although a true tabletop (aka pen and paper) role-playing game, it has been formatted specifically for smart phones and tablet devices to allow gaming on the go.

Developed by Disrupted Gears, and written by Steve Jackson (No, not that Steve Jackson. Nor that one. Totally different Steve Jackson. Apparently, just as being born Jeeves pretty much guarantees becoming a butler being born Steve Jackson leads to a life of role playing games.), the Total Eclipse system is a breath of fresh air in the world of pen and paper role-playing.

The Total Eclipse system is a very easy to learn unique system that features some very innovative game mechanics and overall style of play. For example, the game system uses a level mechanic that goes from 1st level to level 200. While that may sound as if we’re approaching JRPG territory, fear not, for one of the key aspects of Total Eclipse is the concept of micro-advancement. Instead of advancing in levels every few sessions characters advance practically every session, although in terms of raw power the advancements are in small increments. Power therefore comes gradual, but with enough feedback every level that players can feel that they’re not simply treading water.

Morale hit points exist, allowing a concrete method of determining routs and breaks from fear as opposed to the typical save versus whatever. Attributes do not give direct bonuses, eliminating min-maxing and encouraging actual role-laying. Total Eclipse is not class based. An easy to use and very creative method of character creation allows players to craft the character they want to play instead of trying to fit into a mold.

Initially there will be four books available. The first, the Standard Manual, covers the core ruleset. Total Eclipse is actually an open ended game system, allowing any genre to be easily represented by using the rules in the Standard Manual. The second book is the Adventurer’s Forge which covers character creation in the fantasy world of Virdea. Virdea is the default setting and has been in play for nearly a quarter of a century. The third book is the Virdean Gazetter, part gamemaster guide, part world overview. Finally, there is the Celestial City State, which is a campaign setting.

The book releases will be slightly spaced apart. Following on their heels is the possibility of adventures, gaming aids, source books, and other worlds. While the first world tackled is fantasy since the system is completely open ended future supplements could include science fiction, World War II, steampunk, horror, or any genre imaginable.

Now, if you don’t own a smart phone or tablet you may be thinking, “All this sounds awesome, too bad I can’t get in on it.” Don’t worry, you can. While specifically formatted for smart phones and tablets the books will work on about every digital device you can think of, save perhaps your calculator watch. The books can easily be read on eReaders such as the Nook or Kindle, or your PC. If there is enough interest print-on-demand options will also be looked at, although for now everything is to remain purely in the digital realm.

It should also be noted that price points will be in line with smart phone and tablet applications. While actual pricing is to be determined, gamers will not have to spend a hundred dollars or more just for the core books (and even more if you try to acquire the digital copies, which often are priced but a few dollars less than their dead tree brethren).
For a very reasonable price you’ll be able to carry a virtual bookshelf of Total Eclipse books around on your phone, ready to get your polyhedrons on at a moment’s notice.

A release date has not been set but expect to see Total Eclipse released before the end of 2011.

Keep on eye on www.shrapnelgames.com for new Total Eclipse news, and while there be sure to peruse our entire catalog of exciting and often award-winning computer games. Conquer fantasy realms in the acclaimed Dominions 3: The Awakening, discover strange new worlds in Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space, experience battle over years of warfare in winSPWW2, and much more. Recent releases include Bronze, the puzzle-strategy game of ancient conquest (to be a board game in 2012 from Spiral Galaxy Games), and the beer and pretzels strategy game World Supremacy.

About Disrupted Gears

Based in Washington state, Disrupted Gears Productions, developer of Total Eclipse: The Role Playing Game, is a multimedia development group dedicated to the study and creation of role playing games for the table top and computer desktop.

About Shrapnel Games

Founded in 1999 by industry veteran Tim Brooks in response to the shunning of the consim market by mainstream publishers, Shrapnel Games was one of the earliest publishers to take to an online-only approach. Starting small, twelve years later we are pleased to continue to offer gamers choices outside the mainstream that are some of the most exciting and addictive games you’ll ever play.